Sexual assault is one of the fastest growing violent crimes in America. Approximately 20% of all people charged with a sexual offense are juveniles. Among adult sex offenders, almost 50% report that their first offense occurred during their adolescence. (FBI, 1993) There are many different opinions, treatment options and legislation to manage the growing numbers of juvenile sex offenders. In today’s society the psychological and behavioral modification treatments used to manage juvenile sex offenders is also a growing concern. To understand and determine the proposed treatment methods, several related issues will need to be reviewed such as traditional sex offender therapy methods like cognitive therapy and alternative therapies like wilderness camps. Once, the juvenile sex offender becomes part of the justice system the cost of rehabilitated or incarcerating the juvenile also must be discussed. The disposition for juvenile sex offenders should be personalized to the offenders’ age, offense and mental health. How we choose these methods and if such treatment is more effective than incarceration are key issues to be discussed. This literature will discuss who the juvenile sex offender is, the various treatment options to rehabilitate juveniles, the viable solutions to monitor and reduce juvenile sex crimes and the cost to properly manage juvenile sex offenders once they have been adjudicated.
Juvenile sex offenders often vary in age, gender and social class; which require a variety of different therapy and rehabilitation methods. Adolescent sex offenders commit a wide range of illegal sexual behaviors, ranging from exploratory behaviors committed largely out of curiosity to repeated aggressive assaults. Adolescents are respo...
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The National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Initials. (2003). what research shows about. Unpublished manuscript, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Retrieved from ncsby.org
Smith, W. R., & Monastersky, C. (1986). Assessing juvenile sexual offenders' risk for reoffending. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 13, 115-140.
Spark Action, (2010). For juvenile sex offenders, intensive program offers chance to change. Retrieved from http://sparkaction.org/content/juvenile-sex-offenders
Trevino CNN, M. (2009, July 22). Police: four boys sexually assaulted 8-year-old girl. CNN NEWS, Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-22/justice/arizona.juvenile.sexual.assault_1_assaulted-sexually-four-boys?_s=PM:CRIME
In the event that a prisoner (particularly a sex offender) does complete rehabilitation, he carries with him a stigma upon reentering society. People often fear living near a prior drug addict or convicted murderer and the sensational media hype surrounding released felons can ruin a newly released convict’s life before it beings. What with resident notifications, media scare tactics and general concern for safety, a sex offender’s ability to readapt into society is severely hindered (554). This warrants life-skills rehabilitation applied to him useless, as he will be unable to even attempt to make the right decision regarding further crime opportunities.
Yates, P. M. (2005). Pathways to treatment of sexual offenders: Rethinking intervention. Forum on Corrections Research, 17, 1-9.
Hendriks, J., & Bijleveld, C. (2008). Recidivism among juvenile sex offenders after residential treatment. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 14(1), 19-32.
The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011) reveals an estimated 747,408 sex offenders were registered in the United States as of 2010. This number shows an increase of over seven thousand from the previous year. According to Vivian-Bryne (2004), therapeutic treatment for sex offenders is one approach to address the issue of sexual offense and reduce numbers. Although the idea of therapeutic treatment for sex offenders can raise skepticism, a myriad of therapeutic treatment models are available (Polizzi, MacKenzie & Hickman, 1999). This paper will establish the important complexities surrounding therapeutic treatment of sex offenders, including treatment effectiveness, challenges of treatment schemas, and recidivism. Peer reviewed articles regarding therapeutic treatment for sex offenders will be reviewed and the validity of these sources will be discussed.
There is much debate as to whether a sex offender should be released into the public, this debate stems from the idea that a sex offender cannot be treated and that they are a danger to the public as they are ‘purely evil’ (Burke, 2005), however there is much evidence that sex offenders can be treated and re-introduced into society as a productive member. Sex offender is a general term used to refer to any person who has been convicted of crimes involving sex, from rape and molestation to exhibitionism and pornography distribution. There are many theories which try to explain why people are sexual offenders, these theories along with treatments for sex offenders will be looked at to help explain why people sexually offend and to help evaluate whether sex offenders should be released.
Tarolla, S. M., Wagner, E. F., Rabinowitz, J., & Tubman, J. G. (2002). Understanding and treating juvenile offenders: A review of current knowledge and future directions. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 7 (2), 125 - 143
Perkins, D., Hammond, S., Coles, D., & Bishopp, D. (1998). Review of sex offender treatment programs. 01-16. Retrieved from http://www.ramas.co.uk/report4.pdf
Treatment approaches consist of cognitive behavioral and multisystemic therapies (Fanniff & Becker, 2006). Juveniles that are convicted of sex offenses may be placed on sex offender registry, occasionally a permanent status (Salerno, Stevenson, el al., 2010). It is unlike a sex offender to adhere to the appropriate sexual and social behaviors; thus the goal for adolescents is to understand the complex world to overcome the typical characteristics of a sex offender. This paper will consist the common characteristics of juvenile sex offenders and the treatment that are considered to be effective. Additionally, academic research is acquired that focus on offender registration and recidivism
Cashwell, C. S. and Caruso, M. 2014. Adolescent Sex Offenders: Identification and Intervention Strategies. [e-book] Sage Publications. 1. http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/C_Cashwell_Adolescent_1997.pdf [Accessed: 14 Mar 2014].
Some studies have been done to examine the resiliency of victims of CSA. Resiliency can be defined as the ability of a person to adjust to adverse life events or circumstances, or possibly both (Lambie, Seymour, Lee, & Adams, 2002). In terms of CSA, resiliency refers to the ability of a victim to “snap back” into normal life and to successfully cope with the sexual trauma they have been through. When this resiliency is absent, individuals have a hard time adjusting back to normal life and often act out as a result. Research by Lambie et al. shows that female victims of CSA that had a strong social support system self-reported successful lifestyles, stable jobs, and happy lives (Lambie et al., 2002, p. 33). These females also are more likely to have a good relationship with peers and parents, as well as had a positive response to the incident from those peers. On the other hand, lack of support and negative responses towards childhood victimization seem to have a significant negative impact on psychological health and developing behavior (Lambie et al., 2002). Lambie et al.’s research led them to believe that “the critical factor in determining whether someone would become a child molester or not was whether, as a child, they had a close relationship with someone they could confide in” (2002, p. 33). In addition, victims that come from a disadvantaged background are less likely to have this resiliency.
Witt, P., Greenfield, D., & Hiscox, S. (2008). Cognitive/behavioural approaches to the treatment adult sex offenders. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 36(2), 245-269, retrieved from EBSCOhost
Vandiver, D. M., & Teske, R. (2006). Juvenile female and male sex offenders a comparison of offender, victim, and judicial processing characteristics. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 50(2), 148-165.
Many resources go into the prevention and management of sex offenders. However, very few effective programs exist that decrease the likelihood of reoffending. Through the use of meta-analyses, Seto and Lalumiere (2010) evaluated multiple studies that examined sex offenders. Emphasis was put on etiological explanations in the hopes of identifying factors associated with sex offending. Seto and Lalumiere’s (2010) findings help in creating effective programs to decrease recidivism rates.
Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a
Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. “Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.” Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007